Spring Break 2013

SEVERAL weeks ago, I started mentioning to Matt that I wanted to take the boys somewhere for a long weekend for spring break. For whatever reason, he kept dragging his feet about making a commitment to this, and I lovingly, patiently waited until he decided he was in (insert eyerolls, lots of sarcasm here).

When it was all said and done, it was nearly a last-minute trip, at least in this planner’s eyes. Late on Tuesday night we solidified our plan, which was to leave Thursday when Matt got home from work and drive up to Chicago and stay three nights. Oh, and we weren’t telling the boys about it, so it could be a surprise.

Can I just tell you how hard it was not to spoil the surprise, even though it was just 2 days? I had so much packing and planning to do and had to be so secretive about it, but we pulled it off!

Here’s the video of us telling them what was up…I knew the second they saw the DVD player hooked up in the van, they’d be confused…

Aunt Heidi and Uncle Jeff, I hope you feel really special right now

The first 20-30 minutes of the trip was spent telling them what we planned to do, and nonstop excitement and chatter. So fun. This included lots of talk about watching the Illini/Indiana Big Ten Tournament game the next day, which was being held in Chicago (the boys asked immediately after that video ended if this meant we were going to the game). Tickets had long-ago sold out, but Matt was holding out hope for scoring (relatively) cheap standing-room-only seats on StubHub. However, we didn’t let the boys know this; we told them our plan was to drive by the United Center in the morning so they could see where the game was, and then head up to Lincoln Park to BWW to watch the game.

Obviously, we got into Elmhurst (where our hotel was) really late, so we got everyone to bed as quickly as possible. First thing in the morning, Matt was online seeing if tickets were available. They were, and barely under what we decided we were willing to pay! He printed them out and presented them to the boys at breakfast…lots of celebrating followed, as you might imagine!

Only Jack Henry was less-than-thrilled about our non-seats…we got in the United Center right when the doors opened so we could claim a good standing spot, so our total time at the game was 3 hours+. He sat on the floor and asked when it was going to be over a million times, and the Illini lost, but it was still totally worth it. It was such a fun experience to be at the Big Ten Tourney, and one that the older boys will certainly remember for a long time!

We spent the rest of Friday afternoon having lunch at Pockets and then traipsing all over downtown in a steady, cold rain, until we were freezing, drenched and crabby. We spent some time recharging in the van on our way to see Aunt Heidi, Uncle Jeff, Lucy and Rockit dog, so by the time we got to their condo, everyone was in a good mood again. We walked to a bar & grill a couple of blocks away and had a fun dinner with family to wrap up our night!

Saturday’s agenda was to see Wrigley Field (just a drive-by) and my old apartment (no one cared but me), and then head down Lake Shore Drive to Hyde Park for the Museum of Science and Industry. By some miracle, we literally crossed over the Chicago River AS it was being dyed green for St. Patrick’s Day…like we could see the green swirling in the water! So cool, especially because it was something we hoped to see, but knew that we’d have to go out of our way later in the day to make it happen.

The Museum of Science and Industry: love, love, love. Would definitely recommend to anyone with kids 4 and older, or even just adults. Tons of great stuff to see, lots of buttons to push, a huge variety of neat exhibits. We saw the new Animal Inside Out exhibit, which prompted alternating “ewww” sounds and hilarious laughter (there are a few human specimens – all male, by the way – in addition to animals).

The rest of Saturday was spent driving to Schaumburg {during which time I enforced “mandatory napping or you don’t get to swim in the hotel pool tonight,” which was glorious and one of my best ideas all weekend} to go to Ikea and then have dinner at Portillo’s, which was, of course, delicious, and the only meal all weekend that pulled me off my diet.

The boys all got to swim, but I bowed out gracefully when we saw that the pool was FULL of people: primarily unsupervised children age 7-15. Our boys didn’t care, and swam for a bit before bed.

Sunday morning wasn’t quite as early a wake-up, and I was shocked when I texted Matt from the fitness center to come join me for breakfast and got a reply that everyone was still in bed. At nearly 8:00am! This is simply unheard of in our family, which means, I guess, that we sufficiently wore them out over the weekend.

We had one more fun thing to do, though, before leaving the Chicago area, and that was stopping to visit our friends, the Kellys. I love what Karen said in her post: so good to see your BFF in real life, and know she exists outside the virtual world we use to stay connected. Our kids just pick right up where they left off nearly 2 years ago, the last time they saw each other, which is just so fun to see.

After a too-short stop with them, we headed back to STL a bit nervous about the weather, but only encountered a brief stretch of sleet before it turned into all rain for the remaining 100 miles or so.

Here’s a photo-dump to wrap things up!

hotel breakfast…actually, quite good!

group shot at the united center

excited fan

copycat excited fan

he’s an original :)

my favorite lunch

our rain-soaked reflection in the bean

at cousin lucy’s condo (first visit there for the boys!)

not a great pic, but lucy was imitating jack henry after dinner and it was so cute

a framer for their room – particularly because they rarely have a nice moment together right now.

at the museum of science and industry, watching baby chicks hatch. like literally one came out of its shell while we stood there waiting.

the boys were super excited to get inside the full-size jet!

afore-mentioned mandatory naptime.

ikea fun!

waiting for dinner at portillo’s, one of the boys noticed this sign, and that it was their initials! i had to explain who LBJ was…

playing the DS together in the hotel room

college roomies together again!

our combined crew of kiddos

Story of My Life

There will never be any need to write a biography of my life.

Someone could simply copy the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and he’d be good to go.

I came downstairs to quickly reorganize a couple of things for 2 reasons:
1. My sister just moved out, meaning her storage stuff is no longer on our basement. I was going to put a few things away and
2. My friend Katie has started an awesome resource in her basement. She’s collecting clothes and shoes, infant-big kid, boy and girl, so that when foster families get placements, they’ll have somewhere to go for necessities for the kids they’re taking in. I knew I had a box of clothes I could give her, so I was getting that out.

Should’ve been simple. And yet, I turned it into this:

Not pictured are the 2 large boxes headed to Goodwill, the 2 trash bags, and the heap of recycling.

I’ll be glad I did this when it’s done, but this wasn’t really the plan for the morning…

PS if you have things you’d like to donate to Katie, leave me a comment and I’ll put you in touch with her!

Fan.

Last night, as Matt and I were falling asleep, with a bit of glee in my voice I reminded him that we didn’t have to get up for anything this morning. The boys had been told to stay in bed until 7, and even when they woke I’d planned to tell them to read or build Legos or something.

Fast-forward to 5:25. Bennett is at my bedside, complaining of a stomach ache. I set him up in a makeshift bed on the floor, and within 30 minutes, he’s throwing up in my bathroom.

It’s now 6:35, and my poor guy’s been sick twice since then, but he’s feeling a little better. He doesn’t feel like sleeping, which I understand, but he needs to stay in my room, isolated from the rest of the house. I offered to turn on the tv for something to do.

Which brings me to why I’m blogging this, and why he’s making me smile this morning despite the awful start: of the shows on the DVR, he immediately chose to watch the still-saved Illini victory over Indiana basketball game from last week. Even though he saw it live when it aired.

I love that kid.

(And I’m praying he’s the only one to get this sickness.)

Sweetness

A couple of months ago, I watched my niece Ava for a couple of days while her regular babysitter was away on a trip. Ava’s big brother Will goes to a preschool/daycare, so that left Ava in need of a place to hang out, and we were lucky enough to have her here with us.

Jack Henry LOVED this. It was really fun to see how interested he was in everything she did, and how he took care of her and talked to her. When everyone’s together it’s so loud, but with just the 3 of us at home, he got to play the role of big brother, and he was diggin’ it.

The first day, when we put Ava down for her afternoon nap, Jack Henry insisted on reading her a story. I explained that 15-month-olds don’t always do well with books, but he gave it a good try and she cooperated for half the book, which pleased him to no end. When she got too fidgety, we put her in the pack-n-play with her paci and blanket, and naturally, being in an unusual setting, she started to cry.

We snuck away, and sat in JH’s bedroom, finishing up his story. She cried for 2 minutes tops, and then quieted down and talked to herself for a few minutes before falling asleep. In my eyes, that is as good as you can ask for in an unfamiliar situation.

The second day, as it was time to settle her down for a nap, Jack Henry looked at a flap book with her while I got the bed and room ready. Jack Henry hugged her tight, and told her good night, and I put her in the pack-n-play. She started to wail immediately, and Jack Henry’s face fell…he was sad for her. But as we moved out of the room and closed the door, he started to cry himself.

I walked him down the hall to his own room, and let him cry out his empathy tears over Ava’s sadness. I explained again why she was doing it, and that she was fine and he would’ve done the same thing at her age.  Poor guy.

It’s interesting and fun to see him in new situations, where he’s the big kid. I love that he has so many little cousins (6 of them 3 and under, with 2 babies on the way in May and July!), so he learns how to be more than just the baby of the family!

Apparently, We’re Raising Alex P. Keaton.

This is Jack Henry today at his preschool Christmas program. {side note: this is our final preschool Christmas program. Sob.}

Evidence he’s Alex P. Keaton despite having never seen an episode of Family Ties:

1. He chose his own outfit. For real.

2. He didn’t want to tuck in his shirt, and I wanted him to, so I offered him a quarter. He wagered back with 2 quarters. Deal.

Love him!

Downton Abbey

This is what my laundry pile looks like right now:

Oh, and this:

side note: is it normal that I do a load of athletic pants/shorts/shirts every single week? Discuss.

I’ll spare you the gory details via pictures, but the bathrooms are a disaster, the kitchen floor is gritty, and there’s not much to eat around here.

And it’s all Downton Abbey‘s fault. Ok, and the fault of the craft fair I was preparing for all week, which forced me to spend hours in front of the TV.

16.5 hours, to be exact. Two whole seasons’ worth of shows. In 6 days’ time. But I was really, really productive, so I can justify that, right?

I don’t even really know what to say if you haven’t watched it yet, because I can’t adequately describe how much I love the whole thing. There are characters I couldn’t stand at the beginning, and now love, and storylines that I can’t wait to see played out when the new season begins on January 6th. The storytelling is amazing, and the costumes and sets are gorgeous, and the history of the period (early 1900′s) is fascinating.

My only tiny complaint about the show is that it’s sometimes hard to understand how much time has passed when there’s a scene change. Sometimes, it’s minutes; other times, it’s apparently months later based on what they’re talking about, but no indication of that has really been given.

If you haven’t watched it, put it on your Christmas list, try to get it from your local library, stream it through Hulu Plus, or borrow it from a friend. Be ready when season 3 starts!

—–

So today brings cleaning, organizing, outside-lights-decorating (Matt’s done his part; I still need to do mine), getting my thoughts together on what I still need to buy for Christmas (God bless online shopping and Ebates – I love when the packages arrive, and I love when Ebates sends me a Big Fat Check), and actually decorating the inside of the house, since it seems I am the last person on earth to do so.

PS: I just checked Amazon, and today Downton Abbey Seasons 1&2 are a Gold Box deal: only $23.99! It says original and unedited, which is what I borrowed, I assume.

He’s 5. And He Wants You to Know It.

Today, my baby boy turns 5. And he’s pretty pumped about it! Exhibit A, after his shower last night:

As is the custom in our family, he gets to pick where we have dinner tonight. In discussing some options, he asked, “How many places do you know that have balloons?” From that answer he chose Red Robin. Oh, to be five. I mean, when was the last time you chose a restaurant based on whether they gave out balloons or not?

—–

When I think back to five years ago, these are my memories:

1. I was the first induction of the morning, meaning the hospital could call anytime after 4am, I believe, and tell us when to be there. For obvious reasons, sleep was fleeting that night for me (but not for Matt, of course), so around 4 I just decided to grab the phone, get up and go sit in the bathroom (on the closed toilet seat!) with a stack of People magazines. And they didn’t call until like 6am, telling us to be there at 8am. It seemed like FOREVER.

2. I can totally remember how excited I was to meet him. And more than that, to know him. Having had the experience of parenting his 2 older brothers, who were so different from each other as babies, I couldn’t wait to just figure out what he was like.

—–

Five years into being his mom, I’m so thankful for him. In the months after he was born, in the “I’m a baby and I need care 24 hours a day, so don’t try to do anything else with your life” stage, he (along with his brothers, of course) was a wonderful distraction from the sadness of knowing my mom didn’t have much longer. I honestly think he made it easier to get back into everyday life after she passed, because let’s be honest: I could have stuck the other two in front of the TV all day if I just couldn’t deal, but a 9 month old isn’t going to let you do that. I HAD to get back to living my life, and pronto. And I think it helped to just have to jump back in to parenting these 3.

Jack Henry’s such a perfect fit for our family…funny and (mostly) mellow, witty and quick with a comeback. While I do very much enjoy our short time apart while he’s at preschool (my friend Karen suggested last week that a break from your preschooler might be medically necessary, and I tend to agree), I really love spending my days with him and getting to see life through his eyes.

Pictures to come later, after his birthday dinner and presents!

Thank You, Lunch Bunch

It’s 11:30am on a Tuesday, and do you want to know where I am?

Here’s a hint:

i feel the need to clarify that i went over to his side of the booth, and then returned to my own side of the booth after the picture. i think it’s creepy when couples sit next to each other at a restaurant instead of across from each other. that is all.

I’M AT A RESTAURANT. With my husband. And no children.

And it’s all thanks to lunch bunch, the after-school lunch program at Jack Henry’s preschool.

For an extra $30 a month, he gets to stay one day a week after preschool and have lunch and extra playtime with the other kids who stay the additional hour and 45 minutes. If you do the math, $5/hour is some pretty darn cheap childcare educational fun for my littlest boy.

Me getting an extra six hours a month isn’t the impetus for us deciding to have him do lunch bunch once a week, though. Our school district has gone to full-day kindergarten (hold me), so next year, Jack Henry will jump straight into everyday, all-day school without the grace year of half-day kindergarten that his brothers had. I wanted him to have the experience of staying longer at school, so we have something to build on for next year, but I didn’t want him gone all day (hence the need to move him to a new preschool this year).

So lunch bunch is the perfect, economical choice. He was SO excited to head to school today with his lunch box in hand!

On Organization

It’s no secret that I love for things to be organized. Now, there are areas of our home that are not, and that’s primarily because I haven’t invested the time or money to get them that way, not because I don’t truly want them to be organized. Yes, it’s a tad OCD, but I have it under control, no worries.

—–

For whatever reason, God has blessed with me with a son who does not share my love for things being organized. Maybe it’s to teach me a lesson, I don’t know. Or maybe he was switched at birth (unlikely, since he had a large hematoma on his head from delivery, and I checked as we left the hospital that I had the kid with the giant red bruise on his head).

But it’s kind of driving me crazy.

Take this morning, for instance.

(Names will be changed to protect the not-so-innocent. We’ll call this kid John.)

John forgot last night to do his daily reading homework. On the 6th day of school, but who’s counting…we’re definitely still in getting-back-into-the-swing-of-things mode, so it was no big deal. He asked me to wake him a little early to get it done this morning.

I woke him at 6:10 (ouch), and he suddenly couldn’t find his book. That he’d brought home from the library 2 days prior. Areyoukiddingme? We searched all of the usual spots and couldn’t find it. Exasperated, I told him that a) if the book didn’t turn up, he’d be buying a new one for the library and b) to plan on spending a good deal of time this afternoon looking for it, since I knew for certain it was in this house. I reminded him that we’d specifically created a spot for bookbags, library books and the like near the door, and that was where everything was supposed to be.

I couldn’t get that stupid missing book off my mind, so I looked and I looked. I took a break and did some food prep (I like to do that in the morning if I can), and still couldn’t stop thinking about it, and looked some more. And then for some reason, I thought to check the upstairs bathroom stepstool, still in place for Jack Henry, because it has a hiding spot in it.

And wouldn’t you know it? The book was in there. Likely being read when John headed into the bathroom the morning before to get ready for school.

I gave him the good news when I picked him up today, and he was relieved but literally had no recollection of putting it there.

Sigh.

So I’m definitely aware that organization isn’t one of John’s strengths, and we’ve talked about this, and how I will definitely help him continue to work on this. However, personal responsibility is a big theme this year here and at school, and I want him to improve in this area. Just to paint a complete picture since I said I’ll help him: I’m not one of those moms that feels bad if he leaves an assignment at home or something like that and brings it up to him at school unless it’s completely my fault somehow…it’s his responsibility, and it will help him learn a lesson if there are consequences.

Have any of you dear readers been through (or are currently going through) raising a kid who’s a bit scattered on things like this? I’d love your tips and insight.

Or just your commiseration if you’re like me.

Likes/Dislikes: Early Fall 2012 Edition

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a things I love/things I don’t love right now list!

Likes:

1. I bought mums yesterday! Yes, it’s early, but they were super-cheap at Sam’s Club, and they look great.

2. Huge smiles on the boys’ faces when they talk about school.

3. Daydreaming (including pinning to Pinterest) about remodeling our bathrooms and redecorating our living room. Totally just daydreams for now, but will someday come true.

4. Daydreaming (including pinning to Pinterest) about the craft room I’ll never have. People say it’s good to have dreams, but I’m not sure it’s good to have dreams about something that will literally never be happening. Might need to let this one go…

5. Making lists of things I’m going to do this fall…lots of projects around the house that have sat unfinished (or even unstarted!) for way too long. So much painting in my future.

6a. Weather that doesn’t make you feel like you’re literally being roasted by the sun.
6b. Fall is really coming, and that means pumpkin in food, Leaves Bath & Body scent in my house, and scarves around my neck. I am so happy I could dance.

7. This commercial:

I like this one, too, but only because of Dylan.

Dislikes:

1. Elderly drivers. Note I did NOT say elderly people…many just should not be behind the wheel. I can’t tell you how many times in the past 3 months alone I’ve slammed on my breaks because some 80 year old man has decided to run a stoplight, slammed on his brakes in the middle of Manchester Road to make a left turn instead of merging into the turning lane, failed to yield at an on-ramp, etc. Yes, younger drivers do stupid, dangerous things, and yes, texting and driving is irresponsible, but I am far more afraid of elderly drivers. I’m sure it’s an incredibly difficult thing to deal with if it’s your parent who still wants his freedom, but sometimes, for the sake of society, it’s time to hang up the keys.

2. Bumper stickers. From political stickers to “my dog is smarter than your honor student” (that one makes me want to vomit) to “Trees are the answer.” (so. stupid. Trees are not the answer to “5+5″ or “how do we fix the issue of lack of clean water for all people.” Trees are fantastic, but they’re not “the answer.”) Not a fan.

3. Skinny, bright-colored jeans for boys. Utterly ridiculous. Matt would have my head examined if I bought these for our boys.

4. “Keep Calm and…” anything signs. Done.

5. 7:35 school start time. Not my favorite.

Chime in!